Monday, December 13, 2004


worth noting

in the sunday nytimes, a chocolate travel story that mentions all our favorite french chocolatiers!

and in the latimes, a very good story on the cup of excellence and one reason why increased coffee prices for farmers are so important!

my only quibble with the cup of excellence is model is that it highlights the tendency of the industry to find a "fad" coffee one year, and then move on. this might not always be good for the farmers, who often need continuing, long-run help to keep their coffee quality high, even after they've won the prize.

also sometimes farmers and co-ops aren't used to being "abandoned" by the industry as it moves on to the next year. a few farmers with less understanding of the world market are said to be confused when the crowd rushes over to the latest "it" coffee.

but i'm not criticizing the program; it's a very positive force, one part of the multi-pronged solution to the (hopefully receding!) coffee crisis.

now that comments are back -- at least as i post this -- i really want to respond to some of peter r's pod comments, as soon as he gives me permission to reprint his remarks in full!

posted by fortune | 7:08 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments